This post has been updated as new details have been reported.
Update, 8:35 p.m.: Spanish police say they shot and killed suspects in the Catalan seaside resort town of Cambrils, 60 miles southwest of Barcelona, as part of an operation to stop what’s been considered a second terrorist plot. Spanish state broadcaster RTVE is reporting police killed five suspects in a shootout in the early hours of Friday morning.
Update, 7:15 p.m.: The number of injured in Thursday’s terrorist attack now stands at 100, as Spanish police try to track down the perpetrators of the vehicular attack carried out with a van that ran down pedestrians and left bodies strewn across Las Ramblas, one of Barcelona’s most iconic and popular districts. Authorities arrested two individuals in connection to the attack, which began just after 5:30 p.m. (local time): a Moroccan man named Driss Oukabir, whose documents were used to rent the van, and a Spanish national from the Spanish territory of Melilla in northern Morocco. Investigators say that neither of the two detainees was behind the wheel of the van during the attack. According to local reports, Oukabir says his documents were stolen and he was not involved in Thursday’s attack. The driver is thought to have escaped on foot.
According to local police, there was also a deadly explosion on Wednesday night, before the van attack, that is believed to be linked to Thursday’s attack. The explosion occurred at a house in Alcanar, a seaside town 125 miles south down the coast from Barcelona. Catalonia police said “the explosion left at least one person dead, and police suspected those in the house were ‘preparing an explosive device,” according to the Guardian.
Original Post: A van crashed into dozens of people in Barcelona in what police are treating as a terrorist attack. After conflicting reports of the number of people killed, a Spanish government official confirmed 13 people were dead and 50 were injured.
Videos on social media show what appear to be several serious injuries after the crash on Las Ramblas, a popular shopping and tourist destination in the city center. The driver reportedly fled after the crash. Police have told people in the area to stay inside. Sky News and Reuters had earlier cited local TV networks reporting that two armed men entered a nearby restaurant and took hostages. However, Catalan police now say there are no hostages or suspects holed up in a restaurant. Police have also confirmed at least one arrest.
Cars have been used in a number of deadly terrorist attacks in Europe since last year in cities including Nice, Berlin, London, and Stockholm. This latest incident also comes just a few days after a protester was killed in a car attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Today’s attack is likely to be the worst terrorist incident in Spain since the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed nearly 200 people. The clumsy response to that attack—authorities initially tried to blame the jihadi attack on the militant Basque separatist group ETA—resulted in the electoral defeat of Spain’s conservative government several days later and the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq.
Spain hasn’t seen any attacks carried out by members of ISIS—who are responsible for most of the worst recent incidents throughout Europe. But in April, police in Catalonia—Barcelona’s region—arrested nine alleged ISIS supporters suspected of links to the 2016 Brussels airport attack.
Spain has a long history of political violence, much of it linked to ETA, which was involved in more than 800 killings over a 40-year armed conflict. ETA says it has ended its armed campaign and handed over its weapons to authorities this year, though, there are some doubts about whether it has given up entirely.
Catalonia also has an active separatist movement, though an almost entirely peaceful one. The region is gearing up for a controversial planned independence referendum this fall, which the government in Madrid has declared illegal and pledged not to recognize.
Update 3:56: There have now reportedly been two arrests in connection with the attack.
Spanish police have released a photo of the man who allegedly rented the van used in the attack: Driss Ouakabir. Media reports say he was a legal resident in Spain, originally from Morocco, though his Facebook profile says he was born in France. He is believed to have spent time in prison in Spain. It’s not known if he was the same person who drove the van.
ISIS has claimed credit for the attack via its Amaq news agency, often the first source for these claims.
